Monday Mirthiness – fossil fuels melt glaciers

This is a blast from the past. Were an ad like this to run today, it would cause eco-heads to explode globally, kind of like the ending of “Mars Attacks“. The company, “Humble” no longer exists in its current form, but its advertising legacy lives on. The Humble-Esso company later became Exxon. Maybe there will be a campaign now to punish them, i.e. #humbleknew

Thanks to reader “B.C.” for the photo.

humble-melts-glaciers

Added: Published in the 2 February 1962 issue of LIFE magazine, the copy reads:

EACH DAY HUMBLE SUPPLIES ENOUGH ENERGY TO MELT 7 MILLION TONS OF GLACIER!

This giant glacier has remained unmelted for centuries. Yet, the petroleum energy Humble supplies — if converted into heat — could melt it at the rate of 80 tons each second! To meet the nation’s growing needs for energy, Humble has supplied science to nature’s resources to become America’s Leading Energy Company. Working wonders with oil through research, Humble provides energy in many forms — to help heat our homes, power our transportation, and to furnish industry with a great variety of versatile chemicals. Stop at a Humble station for new Enco Extra gasoline, and see why the “Happy Motoring” Sign is the World’s First Choice!

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April 4, 2016 9:48 am

Seriously funny !

george e. smith
Reply to  vukcevic
April 4, 2016 10:23 am

So get on with it; we could use the fresh water !
G

H.R.
April 4, 2016 9:52 am

Or enough energy to get 1/3 of the world’s Earth Day participants to their Earth Day rallies.
Or 10% of the energy required to hold COP21 ;o)

Rob Morrow
Reply to  H.R.
April 4, 2016 10:09 am

But how many Hiroshimas is that?

george e. smith
Reply to  Rob Morrow
April 4, 2016 10:28 am

Are you talking peak Hiroshimas or average Hiroshimas. On average, one Hiroshima doesn’t do a whole lot, so long as you don’t do more than one every 75 years or so; hopefully longer.
g

Bruce Cobb
Reply to  Rob Morrow
April 4, 2016 10:44 am

That’s 33 2/3 Hiroshimas. But then there’s all those “carbon” hiroshimas.
We’re doomed.

Ingram Reynolds
Reply to  Rob Morrow
April 4, 2016 11:43 am

Well, when temperatures get that high you know, there’s a ‘runaway Hiroshima effect’ so that means the laws of thermodynamics can’t count that high. Scientists are feverishly working on the new ‘Hiroshima Hockey Stick’ math to simply show you a colored graph of catastrophe levels.
Since you’re too dumb to know about Hiroshima Hockey Stick Math.
LoL “-)

PiperPaul
Reply to  Rob Morrow
April 4, 2016 7:16 pm

…that means the laws of thermodynamics can’t count that high…
But if we bought this $500 million computer…

Michael 2
April 4, 2016 10:03 am

Chuckle Out Loud 😉

April 4, 2016 10:13 am

Check out American Chemical Society’s “Chemical & Engineering News,” whose managing editor, Melvin J. Josephs, writes on or before Oct. 1970:
“If real and steady progress is to be made in improving the quality of the environment, then, perhaps, continuous and steady, albeit modest, inputs of alarm, panic and hysteria are required of interested citizens. Otherwise progress comes haltingly if at all…
“Only when the complaints of the citizenry have become strident, when some measured alarm, panic and hysteria come on the environmental scene, has any real action toward general pollution abatement taken place. The rational, systematic, scientific approach seems to work better with a health dollop of emotion added.” ( https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1955&dat=19701029&id=mY0jAAAAIBAJ&sjid=vpoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6700,6357868&hl=en )

Reply to  agfosterjr
April 4, 2016 10:25 am

Make that 1971.

Kpar
Reply to  agfosterjr
April 4, 2016 10:45 am

“some measured alarm, panic and hysteria”… ! “Measured? ROFL!

The Original Mike M
Reply to  agfosterjr
April 4, 2016 12:18 pm

Melvin forgot to include the advice to always use a fake name just in case the wallowing masses wake up, get wise to your sophistry and demand revenge.

Jbird
Reply to  agfosterjr
April 5, 2016 8:36 am

When “measured” alarm no longer seems to be working, then the alarm becomes strident, loud and incessant. Usually, after something like the AGW alarm reaches a crescendo, however, the fall-off is rapid, largely because people grow very tired of listening to the alarm bells, while others grow tired of ringing them.

April 4, 2016 10:32 am

Nice find Anthony. That might get a few weirdos chewing on their own faces 🙂

Janice Moore
April 4, 2016 10:53 am

“… for more car power
1980’s Texaco SUPER unleaded TV ad

(youtube)
When we UNAPOLOGETICALLY pushed down sharply on the accelerator of our POWERFUL internal combustion engine and FLEW down the freeway!
Some of us still do. Yes. I consider that extra gas a FINE use of my discretionary income. You can spend yours on bamboo shorts and algae shakes… NOT for me!
And those days are not gone ….
For every tip-toe-along-in-my-holy-car-AGW-cult-member, there are TEN (just a really good guess, lolol) under-thirties STILL goin’ for it! Yay!
They LOVED this movie when they were little…
“We’re the Kids of the Future”

(youtube)
Move OVER, Windmill Man and Solar Slug — get into the slow lane where you belong…
BWAH, HA, HA, HA, HAAAAAAAAAAA!
#(:))

Janice Moore
Reply to  Janice Moore
April 4, 2016 11:05 am

And “under-thirties” is a state of mind, not a chronological age, you know. 🙂
btw: the first video is actually in a list and the one about car POWER is the second one… Walter and Eunice… lol
Okay! Time to …. (looking over my left shoulder…)…. accelerate sharply (nope — no chirp: my traction is that good, heh …. BACK ONTO THE HIGHWAY!
🙂

george e. smith
Reply to  Janice Moore
April 4, 2016 11:48 am

“Under -thirties” is way back in the Plasticine era !
g

Janice Moore
Reply to  Janice Moore
April 4, 2016 12:30 pm

Okay, yes, indeed I’d say the “plasicene era” (lol)’s “thirty-something” is the current “fifty-something,” but, dear George, I was trying to literally make the point that a whole generation (approx. age 10 to age 35, now) is NOT into “save the planet, drive a wimpmobile” thinking. Pretty cool, huh?
#(:))

Janice Moore
Reply to  Janice Moore
April 4, 2016 12:32 pm

An no, I ha not been drinking! plasTicene, plasTicene, plasTicene. There said it.

Steve Fraser
Reply to  Janice Moore
April 4, 2016 1:00 pm

Was that befor or after the Egoscene?

Richard Keen
Reply to  Janice Moore
April 4, 2016 2:01 pm

The Plasticine was nearly 50 years ago. 1967 to be exact:
“plasticine porters with looking glass ties”
The climate of the era featured “tangerine trees and marmalade skies”.
That’s all from Lucy in the Sky, of course, from Sgt. Pepper.

Reply to  Janice Moore
April 4, 2016 2:37 pm

“Under-thirties” may be a state of mind but my “over-sixties” body doth protest when I tell it to act that way. 😎

george e. smith
Reply to  Janice Moore
April 4, 2016 11:47 am

Janice, didn’t anybody ever tell you that aeroplanes don’t have ” accelerator peddles “, and they don’t “flew” down the freeway’s except for emergency landings.
g

Janice Moore
Reply to  george e. smith
April 4, 2016 12:25 pm

“I don’t drive fast — I fly low.” License plate frame on {fill in name of sports car}. Heh. 🙂

Reply to  george e. smith
April 4, 2016 2:43 pm

In my teens i drove like my car was a guided missile. After a year of two of that, 3 wrecks in 6 weeks cured me of that.
(Fortunately the bodies ever injured were the cars’.)

Eugene WR Gallun
Reply to  Janice Moore
April 4, 2016 12:51 pm

Janjice Moore — Gotta love it! — Eugene WR Gallun

John Robertson
Reply to  Janice Moore
April 4, 2016 10:34 pm

Have you SEEN the acceleration of a Tesla sports car? They do put gasoline to shame. Not that I like the taxpayer supported (free electricity!) non-economically viable machine. However it goes like stink!
My BMW K1300GT bike would be hard pressed to keep up with it I suspect.

Janice Moore
Reply to  John Robertson
April 5, 2016 6:40 am

Well, John I-love-hybrids Robertson — most of us want more than one big acceleration per “tank”. LOL — that hybrid would be sitting beside the road not going ANYWHERE long after the internal combustion engine vehicle was still powering around the track or…………………. far ………..down ………..the road.
But, have fun in your Holy Car (should you choose to buy one, since you are so impressed by their performance) and — feel good! 🙂
Glad you have fun driving.
#(:))

urederra
Reply to  John Robertson
April 5, 2016 11:58 am

If everybody moves to electric, who is going to pay for road construction and maintenance?

Reply to  John Robertson
April 5, 2016 1:07 pm

urederra,
Since a large slice of roads are dedicated bike lanes, I propose an annual bicycle tax. Equal to, say, 25% of the average annual car tax.
Bicycle riders would squeal like stuck pigs — an added benefit to the road maintenance income.
Schadenfreude!

Ric Haldane
April 4, 2016 10:54 am

Off topic: AMC/LOWES will have a special showing of “Climate Hustle” at selected theaters. Theaters are small so I suggest buying tickets online.

Ric Haldane
April 4, 2016 10:54 am

Sorry, the date is May 2.

Tom Halla
April 4, 2016 10:55 am

Damn–I snorted coffee all over the monitor 🙂

Gloateus Maximus
April 4, 2016 11:31 am

Mars?
http://www.livescience.com/1349-sun-blamed-warming-earth-worlds.html
A model last year tried to debunk the solar hypothesis by showing that pits in the Martian dry ice cap were “natural” (as if solar variation isn’t), but the model would require hundreds of years of observations to confirm.
Convenient.
In any case, Mars isn’t the only planet to have warmed along with Earth in recent decades.

Bruce Cobb
April 4, 2016 11:45 am

Hmmm… When martian heads explode, green goo goes everywhere.
Green. Coincidence?

April 4, 2016 11:47 am

What’s the date of the ad ?

Reply to  Bob Armstrong
April 4, 2016 12:26 pm

Yes, I was wondering too. The date is Important to the article…

Janice Moore
Reply to  Bob Armstrong
April 4, 2016 12:37 pm

Hope someone who KNOWS answers, but, until someone does, looking at the grill (at 400%) on the car in the little gas station, I’d guess around 1963.

Bruce Cobb
Reply to  Bob Armstrong
April 4, 2016 12:47 pm

Feb. 2, 1962, Life Magazine (p. 86). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSbigjiKLoU

Bruce Cobb
Reply to  Bruce Cobb
April 4, 2016 12:48 pm
Janice Moore
Reply to  Bruce Cobb
April 4, 2016 1:07 pm

Way-to-go, Bruce! Great find.

Eugene WR Gallun
April 4, 2016 1:09 pm

Hmmmm — Has anyone ever calculated the amount of ice melted per day in alcoholic drinks? How many glaciers would that equal? — Eugene WR Gallun

JustAnOldGuy
Reply to  Eugene WR Gallun
April 4, 2016 1:25 pm

It might also be interesting to quantify the daily CO2 input from opening beers and carbonated drinks. Will the ‘greenies’ join temperance societies? That’s a sobering thought.

Goldrider
Reply to  JustAnOldGuy
April 4, 2016 2:48 pm

More beer for us! 😉

Reply to  Eugene WR Gallun
April 4, 2016 2:49 pm

Ted Kennedy was researching that but his funding ran out.

April 4, 2016 2:47 pm

We’ve come a long way. Now instead of melting them we frac them.
Much more efficient.

Alan Ranger
April 4, 2016 4:36 pm

If I had to make a decision back in 1962, I would objectively weigh up all of the available scientific evidence and then settle on Caltex.

April 4, 2016 5:27 pm

1962 was also the year of the US Dominic Prime nuke test. It was an exo-atmospheric thermonuclear weapon test over the Pacific (1.4 MT @ 400 km).
It was also the Year that I was born.
And Big Oil touting melting glaciers!!
Such an exciting time. Such a good year.
The thing that is really sad is how today our politically correct culture stops such harmless “free speech.” We are the ones who have regressed.

April 4, 2016 6:38 pm

I’d like to see Exxon run an ad like that now. It’s high time we stopped with the politically-correct enviro-whacky ‘alternative fuels’ nonsense. More energy is better!
/Mr Lynn

Marcos
April 4, 2016 8:24 pm

I actually live in the town (outside of Houston) named after Mr Humble where he first struck oil

Mike McMillan
Reply to  Marcos
April 5, 2016 1:06 pm

Howdy, neighbor.

TheLastDemocrat
April 4, 2016 8:28 pm

We just got back from a campout. It occurred to me that we were getting an amazing amount of energy out of a few sticks of wood. We cooked all kinds of food, and warmed up the several of us just fine. It was pumping out all kinds of BTU.
Then, I thought about how all of that energy could be more efficiently stored up in fossil fuel rather than deadwood. Amazing.

Reply to  TheLastDemocrat
April 5, 2016 2:54 pm

The LastDemocrat, 8.28 pm, looking at the political situation these days you forgot to turn of the lights after you left and you left the door open.

Johann Wundersamer
April 5, 2016 3:09 am

Followed by the days when the Saudis thought of creating the greenest oasis by towing icebergs to their peninsula.

dennisambler
Reply to  Johann Wundersamer
April 5, 2016 4:29 am

Mentioned here in 1983:
http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF6/606.html
Icebergs taller than a 50-story building and larger than the country of Belgium have been documented (it should be stressed here that we are speaking of fresh water ice derived from continental glaciers–not ice floes which are flat expanses of frozen sea water sometimes the size of small continents). It is no wonder that some countries have been semi-seriously considering the idea of towing one of these behemoths to the Middle East to provide a fresh water source that would last for many years.
Even if such a plan were feasible (which, at present, it is not), there would remain a problem which even the most sophisticated engineering might not be able to overcome.
One might regard such a massive piece of real estate as being almost indestructible (except through melting, of course), but the fact is that they are remarkably fragile, and often unexpectedly shatter into many smaller fragments. The tendency for them to do this has long baffled investigators.

DennisA
April 5, 2016 4:09 am

I Laughed Out Loud….

Editor
April 5, 2016 4:29 am

How many Olympic-size pools would this fill???

Neo
April 5, 2016 8:47 am

Doesn’t this ad show that Exxon (previously Humble Esso) knew about fossil fuels melting glaciers and publicized it to the public ?

Janice Moore
Reply to  Neo
April 5, 2016 1:38 pm

No.

… petroleum energy … converted into heat — could melt it …

(from text of above Life Magazine ad)